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Vickers
(draft vickers history compiled from wiki articles) (Vickers crawler tractors to be fitted in to history) :Early history from wikipedia:Vickers Vickers, Limited was a famous British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927. Early history Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers' brother William owned a steel rolling operation. Edward's investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells. In 1854 Vickers' sons Thomas and Albert joined the business. In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside. The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890. Further diversification occurred with the purchase of the car building activities of the Wolseley Sheep-Shearing Machine Company in 1905, which was set up as the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, the torpedo manufacturers. In 1911, the company name was changed to Vickers Ltd and expanded its operations into aircraft manufacture by the formation of Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department). In 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company; Metrovick. At the same time they came into Metropolitan's railway interests. Merger with Armstrong Whitworth In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd. Armstrong Whitworth had developed along similar lines to Vickers, expanding into various military sectors and was notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne. Armstrongs shipbuilding interests became the "Naval Yard", those of Vickers on the west coast the "Naval Construction Yard". Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was not absorbed by the new company. In 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine, which became the "Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd". In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names. 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell. *From Vickers Ltd. Early History Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers' brother William owned a steel rolling operation. Edward's investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells. In 1854 Vickers' sons Thomas and Albert joined the business. In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside. The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890. It bought out the Barrow in Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns And Ammunitions Company 1 at the same time, to become Vickers, Sons & Maxim. The yard at Barrow became the "Naval Construction Yard". With these acquisitions, Vickers could now produce a complete selection of products, from ships and marine fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance. In 1901 the Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland 1, was launched at the Naval Construction Yard. In 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company. Further diversification occurred with the purchase of the car building activities of the Wolseley Sheep-Shearing Machine Company in 1905, which was set up as the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, the torpedo manufacturers. In 1911, the company name was changed to Vickers Limited and expanded its operations into aircraft manufacture by the formation of Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department). In 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company; Metrovick. At the same time they came into Metropolitan's railway interests. Wolseley was sold to the Nuffield Organisation in 1926. Merger with Armstrong Whitworth In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrong, Ltd. Businesses Armaments Vickers manufactured and sold the Maxim machine gun forming a partnership with its inventor. They later took over the company and improved the design as the Vickers machine gun, which was the last major design Hiram Maxim himself worked on. It became the standard machine gun of the British Empire and Commonwealth, serving for some 50 years in the British Army. It also re-worked in literally dozens of different cartridge sizes and sold all over the world, and was scaled up to larger calibres, particularly for the Royal Navy as a 0.5 inch model). Vickers was involved in the production of numerous firearms. John Pedersons design for a semi-automatic rifle was trialled by the British in the inter-war period (between WW1 and 2). The British version of the rifle was made by Vickers, and as result this version of the Pedersen rifle is usually called the Vickers Rifle. In the interwar period Vickers worked on several tanks designs. Medium Mark I and Mark II were adopted by the British Army. The Vickers 6-Ton tank was the most successful; being exported or built by other nations under licence. The Vickers A1E1 Independent tank design was never put into production but credited with influencing other nations. During the Second World War Vickers built large guns and tanks; the Valentine tank was a design that they had developed privately that was taken up (From Vickers-Armstrong) History Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd. Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers had developed along similar lines, expanding into various military sectors and produced a whole suite of military products. Armstrong Whitworth were notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne. 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell. Break-up In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of Bristol, English Electric and Hunting Aircraft to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). This was owned by Vickers, English Electric and Bristol (holding 40%, 40% and 20% respectively). BAC in turn owned 70% of Hunting. The Supermarine operation was closed in 1963 and the Vickers brand name for aircraft was dropped by BAC in 1965. Under the terms of the 1977 Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act BAC was nationalised to become part of British Aerospace (later BAE Systems). The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act also led to the nationalisation of Vickers' shipbuilding division as part of British Shipbuilders. This division was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL) in 1986, later passing to the GEC group as part of Marconi Marine and survives to this day as part of BAE Systems; BAE Systems Submarines. The steelmaking division became part of British Steel and the remaining interests were divested as the public company Vickers plc, whose various components were later split. The Vickers name ceased to exist in 1999 when Rolls-Royce renamed its acquisitions Vintners plc. Vickers tractor & construction plant model range *Vickers VF Crawler Tractors *Vickers VR 180/Vickers Vigor Crawler Tractor/bulldozers 1952 180 hp Rolls Royce C6SFL Supercharged diesel engine or Cummins engine option *Vickers Vikon 1956 142 hp from a Rolls Royce C4SFL Vickers Military vehicles range * Aricraft * Ships * Tanks Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies Category:Merged companies Category:Crawler tractor manufacturers Category:Tractor manufacturers of the United Kingdom Category:Construction plant manufacturers Category:Bulldozers Category:Vickers Category:Tractor brands Preserved Machines at Astwood Bank Vintage Show 2008]] *Vickers VF ? *Vickers VR 180/Vickers Vigor ** There is one in the S.E. Davis & Son Ltd. collection at Astwood Bank, Redditch. ** 2 in Andrew Beaulah's collection at Beverly, Humberside. ** One in Fred Knight's collection down in Thaxted, Essex. ** 2 more are in the collection of David Williams of Hay-on-Wye. **One at Chain Bridge Honey farm collection of W. Robson & son, in Berwick-upon-Tweed. ** 1 in Canada ** 1 in Queensland Australia. **One in Sweden ** A VR180 is for sale (Jan 2009) at Robert Fearnly Tractors that is a low hrs. Ex. McAlpines machine. * Vickers Vikon (VR110) This was the MKII version of the VR 180 and only about 20 were built Gallery Vickers Vigor at AB openday 2012 IMG 4994.JPG|Vickers VR180 Vigor See also *Bristol *Caterpillar (some D8's built in Glasgow) *Fowler *Shows and Meets - List of events some of which have large plant at. *Collections - List of private collections and Museums some of which have Vickers machines in them. Reference Wikipedia - Various Vickers articles (these make little mention of the Crawlers and require rewriting, with a reference to the Vickers crawlers inserting into the Wikipedia source articles once researched and referenced). Links (Add links to sites featuring Vickers crawlers here) Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies Category:Merged companies Category:Crawler tractor manufacturers Category:Tractor manufacturers of the United Kingdom Category:Construction plant manufacturers Category:Bulldozers Category:Vickers Category:Tractor brands